The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-04-22


The change in the condition and pros
poets Of women and the work accom-
| plished by them in their own behalf is,
and viii be, the marvel of the later half
of the present century. Thirty years ago
the women in this and other countries
were still under "subjection.' They had
no property rights; no rights in their
own children; no means Of thorough
education; no colleges; no professional
schools capable of comforting the equal
training and recognized position of men,
The happy woman and the "womanly"
woman was the one who only left her
| fathers house to enter her husband 8;
who submitted with patience to the dicta-
torship of both, and did not dream of
will of her own in opposition to either.
Widows continued to be burnt, that they
might accompany their husbands as
landmarks, to the pleasant hunting
grounds on the other side of the dark
river; and all the forces of religion, all
the strength of the social order were
brought to bear to confirm and perpetu-
ate existing customs and laws.
| oWhence did the new light come which,
simultaneously in every darkened part of
the earth, produced the universal awak-
ening? 1t was not in one section or for
one class only, but everywhere, from
England to India, and from the western
shores of the Atlantic to the banks of the
Bosphorus. 1t is curious, too, that it has
especially affected women. 1t has opened
their eyes; it has lifted them up and it
has enlarged their horizon; it has estab-
lished bonds of sympathy between them,
and finally placed them in active rela-
tons with each other and the outside
world. As results, widows have ceased
to be burned in India, and quite recently
pure-blooded Brahmin lady lectured to
an assemblage of women in Cambridge,
Mass, while two others are taking pro-
fessional courses of study in a Philadel-
phia school of medicine. BY the efforts
of women workers men have been reused
to sense of justice, and laws have been
made protecting women in the posses
sion of their own earnings and the en-
| joyment of inherited property both in
England and America-not equally all
over America, because the bugbear of
State rights interferes here with human
| rights, but in all parts, even New Jersey,
to the extent of securing to wives the
| power OF providing for themselves and
their children, which formerly they could
not if a drunken or worthless husband
chose to assert his right to his wife's
earnings. Women still suffer in England
! from the superior claim which bad
| father exerts in law upon his children
to that of a good mother; but this, too,
will be remedied some day now that the
| light has come and come to stay.
The old exclusive orders, too, which
had crushing effect upon women, have
all been broken up. Queens think more
of writing book, and are very proud to
| be admitted to the accredited ranks of
useful people and teachers and authors.
The Queen of ROumania, after winning
a literary reputation under the nom de
plume of Carmen Sylvia" has recently
submitted to severe examination by the
commissioner of public instruction at
Bucharest in order that she may give to
class of girls in the high schools the
course of lessons in literature which she
had previously given to class of young
women consisting of the daughters of
! the palace officials.
i SThere is nothing more remarkable in
the history of this century than the
| part taken by women of high rank in
active and useful affairs. The virtues
of Queen Victoria have undoubtedly pre-
| served England from the horrors Of civil
! war, while her daughters exhibit all the
virtues which distinguish noble women
and adapt themselves to varying circum-
stances with extraordinary courage and
devotion. Nearly all possess and exert
artistic or literary faculty. and the letters
of the Princess Alice, edited and put into
book-form by the Princess Christian, her
| sister, constitute record so admirable,
! so sincere, SO modest, so self-forgetting
as to be an antidote to much that is
| pernicious in the literature of the pres
ent day. The Queen of the Belgians is
quiet, home-loving, gracious and refined
lady, with strong love of art and art OBJ
| jects. The Queen of Italy writes verses
and sets them to music, and the young
| Queen Regent of Spain is winning golden
! opinions by the high qualities she dis
| plays in a very trying position.
These women belong to a class who, at
one time not so very distant, were con-
| sidered of different blood and quite re-
moved from the pale of common tastes,
habits and sympathies. Now we learn
| that two of the daughters of the Princess
| of Wales are clever with the needle, and
not unfrequently make, or make over,
! their own dresses.
We all know the ridicule which at
tached few years ago to women who
ventured to speak in behalf of the equal
right of women in politics-their for
lorn Imaginary appearance, the size of
their umbrellas, and the want of taste
and style exhibited in their clothing.
Now we have the Primrose League and
the Liberal League in England, both or
ganized avowedly for political objects,
differed by ladies of rank and fashion,
holding meetings presided over by duch-
esses, with countesses for speakers and
baronesses to pass round the hat y These
Organizations, like our temperance unions
and women's clubs, have rooms, conduct
meetings and pay their own way: women,
now that they can hold, as well as earn
property and money, no longer being the
mendicants of the world, but bountiful,
as is their nature, and more pleased to be
givers than receivers.
Naturally amid all this wly-created
| activity there is some confusion, but no
one need be afraid of internal principles
not remaining the same and guiding the